That’s the comparison Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice was making, Tuesday, talking about Game 7 of this second-round playoff series with the Predators, set for Thursday.

“There’s absolutely a different feel to it, because it’s the final game for one team,” Maurice said, Tuesday. “I can feel it starting now. It is the best part of the job. It’s not Christmas Eve, but you know it’s coming. It’s a whole lot of excitement, a whole lot of fun. Tremendous amount of focus.

“The guys that have had a few more Christmases will sleep a little bit better. The guys that are closer to five years old will be up a little later.”

Maurice himself has two of these “Christmases” under his belt, both when he helped the Carolina Hurricanes reach the 2009 Eastern Conference final.

He remembers them like a kid remembers getting that first electric train set. It helps that he won them both.

“On the road,” he said. “One we tied it with the ‘tender out, won it in regulation about 30 seconds later. And won one in overtime.’’

Those two experiences make him a greybeard in this department in the Jets room.

The entire Jets roster has just eight players who’ve felt the pressure-cooker of a Game 7, and four of them aren’t likely to play on Thursday (see box).

The other four have combined to play just seven Game 7’s, Paul Stastny leading the way, with three.

“There’s going to be butterflies, there’s going to be nerves before the game,” Stastny said. “If you don’t have that in you, you’re losing a love for the game.”

Stastny has five points in his three Game 7’s, and won two of them.

But that first one felt like he’d unwrapped a gift box that turned out to be empty.

“It was about four years ago, my last year in Colorado, against Minnesota,” he said. “It was kind of a back-and-forth game. We lost in overtime. It sucked losing, but it was fun to be a part of. They don’t happen often. You’ve just got to embrace it.”

Most of the Jets players are in the same shoes Stastny was in, four years ago: dealing with the stress of their first Game 7.

Mathieu Perreault, who’s skated in two and lost them both, has some advice for kids like Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, Nik Ehlers, Josh Morrissey and Jacob Trouba.

“It feels different now, for sure,” Perreault said. “The first 20 minutes is so important now. I feel like when I was younger maybe I looked at the bigger picture. Take it as one period at a time. Don’t look at, ‘We’ve got to win this game.’ We’ve got to win this next shift, this next period.

“It’s going to take everybody’s greatest effort. It’s going to take everything. You’ve just got to bring it.”

The winner hosts Vegas in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final, Saturday.

The loser, well, you know the drill.

Maurice is hoping the inexperience of youth is overcome by its exuberance.

“The only way to get experience is to live it,” he said. “So we have not a lot, at all. But we’re going to have a whole lot more by the end of that game.”

The closest thing Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck can lean on for experience is a couple of Hockey East title games in college.

“I have yet to be scored on in one, so I like (those) odds,” Hellebuyck joked. “This has nothing to do with that. This is whole new level and you’ve just got to get into the game as much as you can… you’re going to be feeling adrenalin, you’re going to be excited to play and you’ve got to embrace it.”

The Preds have 21 players on the roster who’ve gone through this. Most, including goalie Pekka Rinne, will be in the lineup, Thursday.

“I’m glad our guys have some experience,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “I’m glad they’ve got some scars on them. Scars make you a little bit tougher. But at the end of the day, it still comes down to those 60 minutes.”

It’s the stuff of dreams for kids, the chance to be a hero in a winner-take-all game, acted out on outdoor rinks, streets and driveways across Canada and the rest of the hockey world.

“Ever since I started playing hockey, I was five years old, you put yourself in that position where you play a Game 7 in the playoffs,” Perreault said. “This is what we play for. So this should be the most fun we’ve had all year.”

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